You know that one dorky friend who spends all of their time at the local museum, or spends too much money on eBay for old postcards and maps of their local community? That's me. I'm that guy. So when I first played Ticket to Ride, my immediate thoughts ran to "I could make an awesome map for this using my local area!" Not only did I think it might be a great way to teach my kids about our local geography, but I quickly realized that where I live provided some unique twists for a Ticket to Ride Map. Namely, water.

I live in Niagara. Technically I live in St. Catharines, but that's neither here nor there for most of you around the world. Niagara Falls is something you've all no doubt heard of - but the problems it caused our residents a few hundred years back? That's probably not something you're familiar with.

To make a long story short (I make it a little longer in the instructions in case you're interested in reading more) Niagara Falls made it impossible to transport goods by ship between two of the Great Lakes, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. To solve this they built a canal, which has been a central feature of our landscape for nearly 200 years.

Ticket to Ride Niagara is all about this canal, the adjoining cities, and the limited border crossings between the Canadian and American sides of the Niagara River. It's also an attempt to pay homage to our storied rail heritage, from the Grand Trunk Railway to the NS&T, one of Canada's first interurban streetcar systems. In essence, Ticket to Ride Niagara is my love letter to Niagara's past.

Admittedly I had the idea for this map ages ago, but only got off my duff to get it together when Days of Wonder announced their custom map contest. And while the phone hasn't been ringing off the hook from Days of Wonder (pretty sure that ship has sailed, and not along the canal as I might have hoped!) I still wanted to see it through to completion.

A big thanks to my friends at Perpetual Geek Machine for handling the hosting duties. They have a great podcast and frequently post up enjoyable board game reviews, so I'd encourage everyone to check them out -- http://www.perpetualgeekmachine.net/

Initially there are only 30 Destination Tickets. It's a really low number, I know - but more are coming. From what I can tell though, this is the only miscalculation made in an otherwise great game. I'll be working on more Destination Tickets in the near future, and will be sure to make them available once they're ready.